Hate crimes up in Florida; Orange County ranks third

After a few years of sharp declines, hate crime reports were up in Florida in 2015, according to an attorney general's report this week.

Orange County had the third-highest number of reported hate crimes in the state in 2015, and the statewide total rose after two years of sharp declines, according to an attorney general's report released this week.

The number of reported hate crimes statewide, 102, is still the second-lowest total on record since 2002, according to the report. Reported hate crimes peaked in 2004 with 334, 177 of them assaults, then declined to a low of 73 in 2014.

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Other Central Florida counties reported few hate crimes. State officials tallied five cases in Brevard, two in Lake and and one each in Osceola and Seminole.

Orange County reported 10 hate crimes in 2015. Miami-Dade reported 22, and Volusia County came in second with 13 reports.

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"Hate crimes are senseless acts," Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement. "I encourage anyone who suspects that a hate crime, or any crime, has occurred to report it to law enforcement immediately. Working together, we will continue our efforts to end the commission of these crimes in our great state and ensure Florida remains a safe place to live and raise a family."

Law enforcement agencies self-report incidents that qualify as hate crimes, the report noted. Agencies with a high number may simply be better at categorizing and reporting them than counties with lower totals.

"These jurisdictions may not actually experience a greater number of hate crime incidents, but may do a more thorough job of reporting them," the report's authors noted.

In Florida, offenses can be reclassified as hate crimes if the perpetrator's motivation fell under at least one of seven categories: Race or skin color; sexual orientation; religion; ethnicity or national origin; mental or physical disabilities; homelessness; and advanced age, legally defined as being older than 65.

The hate crime classification makes the offense a more severe crime, eligible for harsher punishment. A second-degree felony, for instance, could turn into a first-degree felony.

Common hate crimes included assault, vandalism and intimidation. The report gave each crime the same weight regardless of its severity, meaning a vandalism in Orlando did not count for less than a hate-motivated murder in Jupiter.

Statewide, crimes against people like assault accounted for 66.7 percent of all incidents, and property crimes like burglary or vandalism accounted for the remaining third.

The report cited race as the most common reason for hate crime in the state — 49.3 percent of those reported in 2014 were race-based; and 55.9 percent were race-based in 2015.